Tag Archives: Charles d’Orléans

Episode 248. Thomas Bagwell Introduces Bernard Kruysen (Listeners’ Favorites)

March 8, 2024Art Song, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Baritones, Interview, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersBanalités (Poulenc), Bernard Kruysen, Charles d’Orléans, Claude Debussy, Edmond Rostand, Emmanuel Chabrier, Felix de Nobel, Francis Poulenc, Gabriel Faure, Guillaume Apollinaire, Heinrich Heine, Helmut Kahlhöfer, Helmut Winschermann, Jan Mul, Jean-Charles Richard, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Marx, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Ivanovich Grekov, Nikolaus Lenau, Noël Lee, Norman Treigle, Paul Heyse, Quirinus van Blankenburg, Robert Schumann, Stéphane Mallarmé, Tami Petty, Thomas Bagwell, Tristan L’Hermitecountermelody

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One of my best and truest friends in the business is the phenomenal pianist, coach, and conductor Thomas Bagwell. Our friendship really developed back in the days when we curated a series of recitals for the Lotte Lehmann Foundation, which Thomas also (brilliantly) accompanied. Since then we are both carving out different lives for ourselves on the other side of the pond, me as your intrepid Berlin-based podcaster, and Thomas as a valued coach and conductor on the music staff of the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen. Thomas is no doubt remembered by my listeners for his scintillating commentary on my Marni Nixon tribute episode last season. Years ago there was one a peculiar Facebook questionnaire about what would be the last thing you grabbed as you fled your burning home and Thomas answered, “My Bernard Kruysen records.” At that time, I knew the Dutch singer Bernard Kruysen (1933-2000) by name only but I had no clear idea of who he was as an artist. Because of Thomas’s enthusiasm, however, I began my own collection of Bernard Kruysen recordings, from which followed this episode, first heard in 2021, so it is only appropriate that Thomas should be reintroducing this episode today. Bernard Kruysen’s voice exemplifies that now nearly extinct vocal category, the baryton martin. I discuss just what constitutes a baryton martin and why in his prime Kruysen such was an ideal representative. I also discuss the larger question of the performance of the French art song, the mélodie, and why Kruysen was also exceptional in this regard, using as an example his 1960s recorded performances of three complete song cycles by Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, and Francis Poulenc. I also feature the artist singing art songs by Schumann and Mussorgsky and works by Bach, Quirinus van Blankenburg, and Jan Mul. Thomas’s introduction is prefaced with a live recording from those Lotte Lehmann Foundation concerts back in 2011, this one featuring our phenomenal friend, spinto soprano Tami Petty.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford.

Episode 202. William Parker (Pride 2023)

June 23, 2023Art Song, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Baritones, In Memoriam, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Protest Songs, Queer Pride, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century OperaAaron Copland, Alan Marks, Anthony Dean Griffey, Anthony Martin, Bruce Lamott, Caligrammes, Charles d’Orléans, Charles Ives, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Claude Debussy, Dalton Baldwin, David Bergman, David Bowles, David Tayler, Dominick Argento, Donald Wheelock, Drew Hemenger, Elizabeth Blumenstock, Francis Poulenc, Gabriel Faure, Gerald Finzi, Gerard van Blerk, Gonzalo Ruiz, Guillaume Apollinaire, Helmine von Chézy, Henri Duparc, Jean de La Ville de Mirmont, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John B. Tabb, John Jacob Niles, John Musto, Kurt Ollmann, L’horizon chimérique, Lanford Wilson, Lee Hoiby, Lisa Weiss, Ludwig Hölty, Marc Shachman, Melvin Dixon, Ned Rorem, Nicholas McGegan, Old American Songs, Pierre Jean de Bélanger, Rafael Campo, Robert de Bonnières, Rudolf Jansen, Salomon August Andrée, Sarah Davol, Stephen Foster, Steven Lehning, Summer and Smoke, Susan Snively, Tennessee Williams, The Andrée Exposition, Thomas Bagwell, Thomas Hardy, Thomas Merton, William Huckaby, William Parker, Witter Bynnercountermelody

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Today’s episode celebrates the life and legacy of lyric baritone William Parker (05 August 1943 – 29 March 1993), the finest American recitalist of the late twentieth century and one of the most beautiful baritone voices I have ever heard. His mastery of the German, American (and, especially for me, French) song repertoire sends one scrambling back to the earlier days of recorded sound to find suitable parallels. Though we had many friends and colleagues in common, I never met him personally. But this week, at my request as I was preparing this episode, many who loved him have been in touch with me: family, friends, colleagues, lovers, and they have provided me with a wealth of beautiful reminiscences and memories of their beloved Will. I have also compiled a setlist for the episode which displays the full breadth and depth of his artistry. At the end of his life, Will, dying of AIDS, created an initiative called the AIDS Quilt Songbook, to which some of the greatest composers and poets of the day provided songs and texts. Like the AIDS Quilt itself, this is a living legacy which continues to expand and grow. There are numerous works from the Songbook in its various iterations, performed not just by Will, but also by Kurt Ollmann and Anthony Dean Griffey, which serve not only as a painful reminder of an entire generation lost to AIDS, but also as a moving reminder of the LGBTQ+ community’s ability to face down ignorance, hatred, prejudice, even death, and in the end not only to triumph, but to provide an example for present and future generations of our resilience.

Episode 150. Francis Poulenc and Pierre Bernac [Pride 2022]

June 24, 2022Art Song, Great Baritones, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Queer Pride, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersBanalités (Poulenc), Bernard Kruysen, Chansons villageoises (Poulenc), Charles d’Orléans, Charles Munch, Claude Debussy, Darius Milhaud, Denise Duval, Dichterliebe (Schumann), Emmanuel Chabrier, Éphraïm Mikhaël, Ernest Chausson, Fiançailles pour rire (Poulenc), Francis Poulenc, François Villon, Genevieve Touraine, Guillaume Apollinaire, Heinrich Heine, Hugues Cuenod, Johann Sebastian Bach, Léo Latil, Louise de Vilmorin, Maurice Fombeure, Mélodies passagères (Barber), Paul Éluard, Pierre Bernac, Rainer Maria Rilke, Robert Casadesus, Robert Schumann, Roger Désormière, Samuel Barber, Trois ballades de François Villon (Debussy)countermelody

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Something about this week’s episode has really gotten to me. I guess I’m just madly in love with the melodies of Francis Poulenc, and as a result, increasingly in love with the artistry of Pierre Bernac. These two formed an artistic partnership similar in intensity to that shared by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, except that in the case of the Gallic couple, this alliance did not include a romantic element. In spite of that, the pair achieved an artistic intimacy that is sometimes almost painfully honest. Maybe it’s that part of their story that so moves me: that two gay men, neither one sexually involved with the other, still achieved, on an altogether different plane, the deepest kind of intimacy. This episode features performances of the duo in melodies by Poulenc set to texts by Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Éluard and Louise de Vilmorin, as well as songs by Chabrier, Debussy, Chausson, and Samuel Barber. We also hear Bernac performing Bach and Schumann in collaboration with Robert Casadesus, Charles Munch, and Roger Désormière; and Poulenc accompanying singers Denise Duval, Hugues Cuénod, Geneviève Touraine, and Bernard Kruysen in both live and studio recordings. The episode features extensive discussion, mostly from Bernac’s book on Poulenc and his songs, of Poulenc’s devotion to poetry and his very particular compositional method of getting to the heart of a poem.

Episode 109. Bernard Kruysen: Baryton Martin Extroardinaire

October 3, 2021Art Song, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Baritones, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersBanalités (Poulenc), Bernard Kruysen, Carlisle Floyd, Charles d’Orléans, Claude Debussy, Die tote Stadt, Edmond Rostand, Emmanuel Chabrier, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Felix de Nobel, Francis Poulenc, Gabriel Faure, Gian Carlo Menotti, Guillaume Apollinaire, Heinrich Heine, Heinrich Hollreiser, Helmut Kahlhöfer, Helmut Winschermann, James King, Jan Mul, Jean-Charles Richard, Johann Sebastian Bach, Karan Armstrong, Mary Mills, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Ivanovich Grekov, Nikolaus Lenau, Noël Lee, Norman Treigle, Quirinus van Blankenburg, Robert Schumann, Stéphane Mallarmé, Susannah (Floyd), Tristan L’Hermitecountermelody

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Today I celebrate the life and artistry of Bernard Kruysen (1933-2000), the Dutch singer whose voice exemplified that now nearly extinct vocal category, the baryton martin. I discuss just what constitutes a baryton martin and why in his prime Kruysen such was an ideal representative. I also discuss the larger question of the performance of the French art song, the mélodie, and why Kruysen was also exceptional in this regard, using as an example his 1960s recorded performances of three complete song cycles by Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, and Francis Poulenc. I also feature the artist singing art songs by Schumann and Mussorgsky and works by Bach, Quirinus van Blankenburg, and Jan Mul. The episode also includes tributes to recently departed artists Karan Armstrong (singing Korngold and Menotti) and Carlisle Floyd (in performances of his work by Mary Mills and Norman Treigle).

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. And please head to my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available exclusively to Patreon supporters are currently available.